Top Tips for surviving your Pregnancy Wardrobe

Even though my pregnancy wardrobe can fit in a carry-on suitcase this doesn't bother me: I'm building a baby which ultimately is bigger miracle than a wardrobe full of clothes. Here are my top tips if you are struggling with a limited pregnancy wardrobe and what to do about it:

1. Split your wardrobe into 2 halves - maternity wear and 'other'. I have an Ikea PAX wardrobe and one half is all the things that fit, the other half is full of things that don't fit right now but can be revisited after baby is born.
2. Don't look back in anger - your body will grow out of stuff over your 9 month pregnancy journey. FACT. When you have gone through a cycle of growth and that top that did previously work now looks like a crop top with your baby bump hanging out the bottom of it just let it go. Move it into the other side of you wardrobe and thank it for what it did for you, thank it for fitting you when you needed it to. 
3. Edit, Edit, Edit - Getting hot in a particular dress? Feeling itchy in a top? Felt crap whilst wearing it? Even though you are pregnant you still have the right to look and feel awesome (and comfortable) in your clothes and if they don't make you feel awesome, time to move it on.
4. Raid your clothing stashes - that suitcase of summer clothes under the bed and your husband's shirts and jumpers are now all up for grabs. I have a couple of dresses from Whistles which are usually too corporate for Wardrobe Angel work but a few months ago they came up trumps for a number of speaking gigs I was booked to do. They gave me a polished look that I felt I'd been missing since my bump popped out and I felt amazing wearing them.
5. Don't knock a gift horse in the mouth - my sister Penny gave me a suitcase full of maternity clothes before Christmas. Were all of them to my taste? Nope. Can I style the items I do like so they match my style and personal brand? Yes. 
6. Save what you would have spent - I think any pregnancy wardrobe boils to down money. I have certainly been loathe to buy a shed load of maternity clothes because I am growing and changing over a 9month period but with no indication of how big my bump will get at what rate. Sustainability is one of the pillars of my Wardrobe Angel business and if I'm only go to wear an item of clothing for a few weeks that doesn't fit with my ethos. HOWEVER there is life after a limited pregnancy wardrobe and I have had my head turned by lots of shiny new season goodies. In these instances instead of buying the clothes with fingers crossed I'll be able to wear them once I've birthed this human I'm growing, I have saved the money instead. When the time comes after the breast feeding and my body has re calibrated I can happily head to the shops with a fistful of cash and shop until my wardrobe is content.
7. Stick to a colour palette - if you are investing in a maternity wardrobe then stick to 3 colours max. This means everything goes together and you give yourself more outfit options. 
8. Just COS - My new clothing best pregnancy-friendly friend. I LOVE YOU COS THANK YOU FOR MAKING AWESOME PREGNANCY FRIENDLY CLOTHES!! Stylish tops and trousers with elasticated bump friendly waists. Buying a couple of pieces from COS last week lifted my spirits no end: I felt chic, awesome and capable when I wore the outfit to a client appointment. Pics to follow!
9. Don't do a hatchet job on your wardrobe - Pregnancy can be a frustrating time, style wise. None of the maternity clothes you see may float your boat. But don't take it out on your other clothes. You may be armed with bin liners, tempted to rip into the pre-pregnancy clothes and send them on their merry way to the charity shop. This may even be part of the nesting instinct but avoid it if you can. You'll welcome getting back into your own jeans, your favourite tops and shoes post-pregnancy. Put the bin liners down and step away from your wardrobe because
10. This too shall pass - It's just a phase. Yes I have found some aspects of pregnancy hard: the tiredness, the sickness, the effect it has had on my business, generally feeling like a ball of mozzarella. It ain't all sweetness and light. But clothes are just clothes and right now your body, and my body, are performing a miracle - growing a baby. 

How are you managing your pregnancy wardrobe?

Til next time...x

The Wardrobe Angel

Pregnancy Style 101 - a square cut top for the WIN!

So I'm 19 weeks pregnant and find myself amongst esteemed ladies also "with child" - maybe Beyonce wants to come to NCT classes with me? I'm pretty chuffed as I feel I've hit my pregnancy style stride: black skinny maternity jeans, t-shirt or top and a jacket. Sitting here right now I'm wearing a vintage silk Escada blouse and my trusty Helmut jacket, paired with - correct! Topshop maternity skinny jeans!

Sleeve me up Scotty!

I had a business function to attend last week: my dear friend Sue Hanson who was launching her new business Your Lamplighter and I wanted to be there in full support. Pre-pregnancy there would have been a pencil skirt and stiletto heels involved and I certainly wouldn't have worn jeans. I have only ever done a client appointment in jeans once and felt too casual so going to a swish business launch at The Mansion House in jeans filled me with trepidation. However a square cut Topshop Boutique top with a faint whiff of Vivienne Westwood about it saved the day. It's 100% cotton and fairly rigid but the beauty of it is in the side vents - they give the fabric more room to breathe around the lower torso which is where Baby Brown is starting to show now. The top also has epic sleeves which I tucked out of my Topshop longline blazer in pearly dazzling white. I felt great in the outfit and in a white blazer and shoes I really stood out in the room - not a bad situation to be in at a business event!

Side vent-tastic. A great tip to get more wear out of your clothes if you have gained some weight on your hips and your tops won't fit is to get some side vents put in. You gain so much room!

Feeling nautical. Ahoy there!

Let me tell you, I am one tired, pregnant lady and have energy for about 3 hours out of 24 a day so trekking over to Roundhay in Leeds on a Wednesday evening took a herculean amount of effort. I left promptly as the event ended and hot footed it bed to be awoken at 6am by Baby Brown making their presence felt for the first time. That natural alarm clock made my week.

Til next time.....x

The Wardrobe Angel

Pregnancy Style 101

I went shopping for maternity clothes and they were so horrible they made me weep. 

2016 was the most productive, fun and profitable year as The Wardrobe Angel and personally it has been a whirlwind stepping into 2017: one year of marriage, finishing decorating our home and now a baby on the way! This has meant a significant change to my wardrobe with two thirds of it unwearable and my heels left forlornly on their cosy shelves as I reach for trainers most days. In January I ventured into Leeds to size up the maternity clothing situation. Dire. Appalling. Nasty. were just 3 words that came to mind. In H&M the maternity collection seemed to be based on 2 assumptions:


1. That all pregnant women like wearing tight, scoop neck tops.
2. That all pregnant women like floral prints.


I never wore tight fitting tops when I wasn't pregnant so why on earth would I start to wear them now? Even the Topshop maternity selection seemed to be deep into the floral print vibe with tea dresses a plenty. Bleugh! Sorry, that is NOT by cup of decaff tea! So what solutions have I come up with instead? I have been living in my Topshop Leigh maternity jeans along with a logo t-shirt and a blazer jacket for most of January, delving deep into my vintage t-shirt stash and "borrowing" a few of Rich's t-shirts along the way. Men's t-shirts fit longer in the body so they are perfect for covering a growing bump and pair of boobs. I have 2 thigh length blazers, one white, one black, which I have been chucking over the tees to smarten them up.

San Fran life, eh?! This t-shirt is a 100% cotton wardrobe gem.

My temperature has been fluctuating over the past couple of weeks, either getting really cold really quickly (and keeping my coat on indoors!) or getting really hot really quickly which has meant that the cotton t-shirts have been a godsend. Cotton is a natural, breathable fabric and also feels great against my skin. And let's not forget the shoes - the ones in the pic above are a Topshop copy of a Celine shoe and with a tasty block heel in white leather. They are perfect for client meetings, networking events, 1-2-1's - basically any interaction I have when I'm seated! During wardrobe appointments I now remove my shoes and wear slippers: baby Brown has completely changed my centre of gravity!

More next week...til next time x

The Wardrobe Angel (and bump)

2 Yorkshire lasses, a Camel Coat and a Big Fat Scarf

Winter is here and I love getting my big coats and winter boots out. So first up, my camel coat. Purchased 4 years ago for the princely sum of £14.99 from the Oxfam charity shop in Manchester town centre. I had it re-lined prior to the winter season kicking in which cost £80 but considering my initial outlay for the coat, and the fact the re-lining came with a dry clean, I was more than happy to pay for it. The jeans are my trusty Jamie Topshop beauties which I have washed and washed until they turned this glorious shade of black/grey. The Bardot boots from Topshop were bought for my mini-moon in Norfolk as they were leather, waterproof and I could walk a fair distance in them. I assure you this post isn't sponsored by Topshop, but the Tartan scarf I have thrown so nonchalantly around my neck is also from Topshop. Click here to get your Topshop £22 grid check beauty.

Peeking out beneath my coat is an off white  silk Miu Miu top which cost me a couple of quid from a charity shop in Brighouse. It had a huge stain down the back so I tackled it with stain remover and hey-presto! Stain gone, wicked awesome top in my wardrobe. I'm also wearing a 1980's double breasted blazer made from wool - super warm and since I love a jacket, this keeps me feeling smart even on a non-client facing day. 

I love it when a plan comes together and in this case the plan was 2 Yorkshire businesses collaborating over a shared love of vintage clothes. I met Laura from Grandma Eileen's Vintage on Twitter and last Friday we did a mini photo shoot on a viaduct in Greetland  for a feature on her blog. I'll direct you to Grandma Eileen's Vintage Blog so you can read what we chatted about and if you want any more info about my clothes and the charity shops I frequent then please drop me a line. 

The Big Blog Clothes Swap

In January Janet from Words That Can Only Be Your Own and I launched a blogger clothes swap. The results have started rolling in: who has swapped what and what outfits have been created as a result.

With the average wardrobe containing 22 unworn items, clothes swapping is a great way of giving away clothes you no longer wear with the promise of new-to-you clothing turning up to surprise, delight and potentially push your boundaries, fashion wise. 

I was delighted to see the necklace and dress I had swapped turn up on Make, Do and Spend. The necklace I swapped was from Antiform a sustainable label set up in Leeds which now resides in Bristol. Bought to support this amazing brand when Antiform had a pop-up shop in the Corn Exchange in Leeds, the necklace was sadly never worn; the baubles made up of gorgeously soft suede competed with an already buxom chest and it never looked quite right. But styled with a striped tee on the recipient blogger, it looked at home; I was happy to see it being used, finally.

Photo from Make Do and Spend blog

So what did I receive? I came home one afternoon in the pouring rain and noticed a pink parcel sticking out of the shed. It felt like clothing Christmas had come! Inside there was a lovely handwritten note and lots of goodies:

• H&M cropped cardigan
• Floral Mac
• Topshop skirt
• Topshop dress
• Hat
• Belt

I knew immediately which ones were for me and which ones I could pass on (which I did at a clothes swap in aid of Oxfam later that week!) 

As soon as I pulled the Topshop skirt out of the parcel I clapped in glee: electric blue, high waisted, pockets. Just perfect. 

I styled it with an I heart NY t-shirt and some Topshop ankle boots for spring and then with my trusty leopard print blouse and boots for autumn. The skirt is a tulip shape, so a bit tight on the legs for wardrobe sorting but it's a fab piece wear for meetings and networking.

The cardigan, mac, hat and belt were sadly not for me. The mac, though wonderfully constructed, and seemingly waterproof was floral. If there's one thing I don't really 'do' it is florals. The cardigan was super cute but cropped. I've never really gotten on with cropped things so I passed that along at the Oxfam clothes swap as well.

All in all  cracking swap and one that I hope will happen year after year. 

Til next time...x

Allium B Get Dressed (again)

The second Allium B dress I styled was Flora. This was really testing my mettle - I don't 'do' florals - but as a stylist and Image Consultant I see a lot of clients who do. And I can't go shoving my dramatic style into all the wardrobes I see - we are all individual after all!

Flora got the same treatment as Sophia last week and got a makeover for Going Out, Casual and Wedding Guest:

 

 

Running Left - Right we have....

Wedding Guest - I wanted to give the guests behind me in the congregation something to look at so I used a Silence and Noise jacket with a cut away back. Then blocked all sights and sounds with a massive satellite hat and 80's patent clutch. Heels from Office. 

Casual - I paired Flora with my Safari jacket, Harry Hall riding boots and a massive scarf from Gap. Leaves supplied by the trees. 

Going Out - Faux Fur for all! ASOS came up with the goods and the necklace is from Topshop. Leopard boots are Kurt Geiger's finest. 

If you love the look of Allium B but love 20% off even more please use the exclusive code 

ANGEL14 

to receive 20% off your chosen Allium B dress. Click here for the website. 

Tis the season to be sequinned

Christmas always means extra magic and sparkle to me - magic and sparkle in the sequin sense. One of my wardrobe staples, I err on the side of sequins on a regular basis but ramp up the sparkle come Yuletide. Most of my vintage sequinned pieces have come from….wait for it….charity shops! The quality of the vintage sequinned garments far surpasses anything I've found on the high street. With some high street sequinned garments the sequins shed – this is because they are sewn on in a sheet. Vintage sequins normally would have been individually hand-stitched so you won’t leave a trail of sequins behind you on the dance floor!

I found a cracker of a sequinned top in a charity shop in Holmfirth last Saturday, made even more special due to the fact that it is a bit of a designer steal! Oleg Cassini no less! Not heard of him? He worked for Paramount Pictures, 20^th Century Fox and dressed Jackie Kennedy no less:

For the PresidentKennedy's Inauguration in 1961, Cassini dressed the First Lady in a fawn beigewool coat with a small sable collar and a matching pillbox hat. Mrs. Kennedywas the first one to be seen on every TV in the world. Soon, it seemed, womenall over the world followed the First Lady's image. In 1963 the world sawanother pink pillbox hat by Cassini on Mrs. Kennedy, when she was next to thePresident when he was assassinated. In less than 3 years Cassini created aboutthree hundred outfits for the First Lady. His creativity was inspired byRussian, Italian, French, Oriental, and Native American cultures. 

I think I've got a faint whiff of Debby Harry here!

Not getting swayed by the designer label I've found most charity shop vintage sequinned numbers, including Oleg’s offering, come with a few downsides....

Massive issues with massive shoulder pads

1.    The shoulder pads – you can see from my face the shoulder pads have scared the bejesus out of me. If you are small of frame, don’t fancy looking like a transformer and don’t want to be mistaken for an extra in an 80’s film then it may be worth removing said pads of horror and inserting smaller ones. I turned the top back-to-front and found that the deep V took the attention away from the pads and gave the top a softer line.

2.    The weight – man are they heavy! These designers and dress makers certainly didn’t skimp back in the day! Get ready to heft around your glitter ball outfit!

3.    They can look old fashioned – and they can look very square. You have to put your own modern twist on them. I wear one of my sequinned tops with a denim shirt underneath. I paired the top I bought on Saturday with bright lime heels, to add a pop of colour, and wore my Jamie High Waisted jeans from Topshop. You could try wearing leather leggings, culottes or layering over dresses.

And like a nice brew, turning the top back-to-front has made everything better!

The great thing about having vintage sequins is that they make your party wardrobe truly unique – no one will look like you; you won’t have the style death moment when you enter a party and see someone wearing the exact same high street dress as you. Party on!

Summer BBQ Outfit

I am a proper creative thinker - I live and think in colour, pattern and texture. I remember doing an exercise as a management trainee at M&S once where we were asked to picture the numbers 1-10 and describe then in detail. I pictured number 5 as pink and fluffy. One of the other graduate trainees was all "whaaaat?". It was then I realised how my mind worked: I'm certainly not about 'the numbers' and 'the logic.'

The outfit (above) which I wore for a family BBQ in London - it was in my mind about a week before. The Topshop top is sleeveless (awesome in the heat) and the trousers from Urban Outfitters, even though they crease like a b****** are really lightweight and have pockets which I love - somewhere to put your hands if you are feeling awkward. The block heeled sandals were an inspired Nine West sale choice at the end of last summer and they go with pretty much everything in my summer wardrobe.

Here's why I love it:

• There is a slight pink tinge in the embellishment of the top which pulls it through to the trousers. 
• The bag is textured and stands out against the silky texture of the trousers. 
• Speaking of textures, each piece has a different texture so there is lots for the eye to take in and look at.
• The top surrenders the waist and I wore the trousers on my hips so lots of room for BBQ food.
• The shoes aren't 'matchy matchy' so they create a great focal piece

Why I love a (good) clothes swap

I've been volunteering at The Leeds Community Clothing Exchange for over a year now. It's grown and grown and now fills the Oblong Community centre on the last Saturday of every month from 12 - 4pm. So you'll notice the title of the post is "why I love a (good) clothes swap." I went to a clothes in London once and it was rubbish. The Leeds Community Clothing Exchange is a good swap and here's why:

1. A wide variety of clean clothes and accessories in good condition
2. Membership - it makes people come back again and again
3. Location - there is loads of room to move around and changing rooms with a mirror
4. Links to local charity - any clothes that aren't up to swapping par are bagged ready for a charity to come and collect and sell. It all helps extend the clothing lifecycle.
5. Staff - there are at least 10 volunteers at the Leeds Community Clothing Exchange who greet, sort, register, tidy and pack away.

This post is to combat any misconceptions that people may have around clothes swaps. Some people don't 'get them'. Clothes swapping is simply shopping for free in a big clothing tombola. And Forrest, you never know what you're going to get. For instance this week I saw 2 mint condition Superdry jackets snapped up, not to mention the gold Adidas high top trainers and the immaculate vintage jacket that waltzed off the rails. Here's what I picked up:

Topshop pleather trousers
Gap breton striped top
Vintage French Connection Jumpsuit

And here's how I styled them:

The pleather trousers look mint with the striped top, Topshop sliders and necklace and a leopard print scarf. The trousers are a wee bit hot for now so I'm saving them for Autumn.

The grey jumpsuit nails 2 trends this season - 1. Jumpsuits 2. Denim. The grey denim pops next to the lemon shoes and I went mental ala Mr. T with the necklaces - I love the contrast of the utility denim and the ladylike pearls. It does look reminiscent of a boiler suit and I did question whether or not I looked like one of the Ghostbusters but hey! That's the joy of vintage. Check out the label - proper old school:

Some people think that the clothes at a Clothes Swap will be 'dirty'. OK - sometimes they might not be freshly pressed but do you think the clothes that you try on in shops are either? Do you know how many times garments are tried on and put back? You've all visited fitting rooms, tried and discarded a garment which is then hung up, taken back out and placed on the shop floor. Food for thought - keep an open mind and give clothes swapping a try.

1 Dress, 3 ways to wear...

Recently I've had the HUGE honour of working with the students from Batley School of Art on some of their fashion modules. Keeping in with my Wardrobe Angel theme of Re-style, Re-image, Re-sell we organised a photo shoot which styled 1 Topshop dress 3 ways....

Something a wee bit Urban by layering over the dress to make it into a skirt.

Feminine vibes by adding a floral headband and swathes of pearls.

And finally a vintage twist with an 80's suit jacket. Awesome headgear supplied by Beth Hirst .